Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be released Friday from a New York jail where he has been locked up since Monday on charges he sexually assaulted a hotel maid. The decision capped a frenzied week at the IMF as world powers scrambled to name a successor to a fallen leader once credited with revitalizing the international institution.
State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus agreed over the objections of prosecutors on Thursday to release Mr. Strauss-Kahn on a package that included a $1 million cash bail, a $5 million bond and 24-hour home confinement in a Manhattan apartment rented by his wife at an undisclosed address. The detention will be enforced by video surveillance and at least one armed guard. Turning to the French diplomat, the judge said, "you will be subjected to and you will have the benefit of the protection of the criminal court system....I expect that you will be here for the occasion."
The most serious of the charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, criminal sexual act, carries up to 25 years in prison, though lawyers have said that even if he went to trial and was convicted on that charge, he'd be unlikely to serve a sentence that high. He hasn't yet entered a plea but his lawyer said his greatest interest "is to clear his name."
After the 62-year-old Mr. Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF late Wednesday, saying he was leaving to "protect the institution," the battle for the top job kicked into high gear, with France and Germany defending Europe's traditional role in filling the post and emerging nations arguing now is their time to lead the institution.
The question of who will succeed Mr. Strauss-Kahn as IMF managing director comes as the global balance of economic power is shifting. Europeans argue that the urgency of solving their own problems, including their sovereign-debt crisis that threatens the global economy, argue for placing a European in the job.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank warned it may pull the plug on funding for Greek banks in the event of any restructuring of Greece's government debt, an escalation in what until now had been a behind-the-scenes dispute.
The U.S., the IMF's single largest shareholder, isn't supporting the developing countries' call for a change in course. The U.S. position could mean the next IMF chief is a European, as has been the case since the organization was founded six decades ago.
While other high-profile European names have surfaced, including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, Christine Lagarde, a corporate lawyer who has been France's finance minister since 2007 has emerged as the front-runner for the job.
Judge Obus' decision came after prosecutors revealed a grand jury indicted Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who entered the hearing through a rear door of the courtroom in a gray suit and a light blue dress shirt. He smiled in the direction of his wife and daughter, who were at the front of the courtroom, before sitting somberly through the proceedings.
The judge said that there is "a serious risk" that Mr. Strauss-Kahn could attempt to flee the country and that it would be difficult to extradite him from France. But he said he was willing to grant bail given the security proposal outlined by Mr. Strauss-Kahn's lawyer.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn could have visitors to the apartment, in a number to be determined by the security firm, which would escort him to appointments, including with his lawyers. If he tried to escape, the guards would restrain him, said his lawyer, William Taylor, calling the plan "the most restrictive possible conditions." Mr. Strauss-Kahn would pay the cost of the security firm.he indictment, which mirrors the charges initially filed following his arrest, charges Mr. Strauss-Kahn with two counts of a criminal sexual act in the first degree, attempted rape in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first and third degrees, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree and forcible touching. Several of the charges are high-level felonies.
A prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney's office, John McConnell, had opposed bail, saying his office hadn't had time to review the proposal, and he called Mr. Strauss-Kahn an "existential" risk to flee based on his "access to enormous resources and a network of contacts around the world."
But Mr. Taylor said his client didn't run from the scene. He left the Sofitel hotel at 12:25 p.m. on Saturday, about a half-hour after the alleged attack, and about 20 minutes later sat down for lunch with a relative at a restaurant near the hotel in midtown Manhattan, "in plain view of the entire world." He took a taxi to the airport about 2:15 p.m., Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor said Mr. Strauss-Kahn has about $2 million in assets, including an account "in the low seven figures" in the U.S. His wife, Anne Sinclair, has "substantially greater" assets, including ownership of a $4 million home in Washington.
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